Public Knowledge and the Community Broadband Networks Initiative have asked the Federal Communications Commission to extend the public comment deadline beyond Sept. 16 for the proposed AT&T (NYSE: T) and DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) merger. But on Wednesday, the two communications giants countered that the FCC should not consider this request and should instead act on an imperative to vet the deal as "expeditiously as possible." Multichannel News has a full report here.